It is well known to use cleaning and disinfecting solutions to treat various environments such as healthcare environments, food preparation and manufacturing areas, electronics and pharmaceutical clean rooms. Such treatment solutions are typically applied using foam or fiber mops which collect the treatment solution from a bucket or other bulk storage device. The mop is then used to disperse the treatment solution to the surface being cleaned and to collect the used treatment solution after it has been applied. These traditional mop structures may thus lead to substantial recycling of contaminated or diluted treatment solution as it is expelled and then drawn back into the mop during multiple cycles. This process may lead to the undesired application of such contaminated or diluted treatment solution rather than the desired application of full strength fresh solution. This situation may be particularly problematic if the operator does not collect fresh solution from the bucket on a regular basis during the treatment operation.
Proper cleaning protocol in sensitive environments such as hospitals and the like is typically a two-step process. First, a cleaning step is carried out to remove soil load. Following the cleaning step, a disinfecting step is conducted in which the flooring surface is wetted with an adequate amount of disinfecting solution to maintain a dwell time satisfactory to achieve disinfection. It is typical to use a common solution for both cleaning and disinfecting, although distinct targeted solutions may be used if desired.
The use of disposable or washable mop pads incorporating microfiber cleaning surfaces of polyester or other fibers is known. Such microfiber structures are known to provide excellent cleaning due to the particle collection characteristics associated with the high surface area of the microfiber elements. In some environments, such mops are used with a single bucket of a combined cleaning and disinfecting solution and the mop is saturated with an amount of solution intended to be adequate for both cleaning and disinfecting. However, a typical problem encountered is the inadequate saturation of the microfiber mop head due to the generally hydrophobic nature of the microfiber. With inadequate saturation, the mop head often cannot be used for the cleaning step and still retain enough solution to properly wet the floor for disinfecting purposes. Returning the mop head to the bucket to collect additional solution may be problematic due to the possibility for contamination of the solution. In some environments, a two bucket system is used in which a so called “charger bucket” is used to saturate mops used in cleaning and then a second bucket is used for disinfectant. However, the disinfecting bucket is still exposed to soiled mops which may introduce organic matter and contamination.
In light of these deficiencies, a useful advancement would be derived from a system providing adequate fluid retention to avoid the need for resaturation while also providing the cleaning benefits associated with microfiber structures.